Blue Streak Review
by Greg King (gregking AT netau DOT com DOT au)November 17th, 1999
BLUE STREAK (M).
(Columbia Tristar)
Director: Les Mayfield
Stars: Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson, William Forsythe, Peter Greene, Nicole Ari Parker
Running time: 93 minutes.
Martin Lawrence (Bad Boys, etc) has always been something of a second rate Eddie Murphy wannabe, lacking charm, charisma and the same assured style. His latest film, the tailor-made action comedy Blue Streak, is his second rate Beverly Hills Cop try hard. Lawrence plays Miles Logan, a thief, who hides a valuable diamond in a building site after a carefully planned robbery goes wrong when one of his team gets greedy. After two years in prison, Logan returns to the construction site hoping to recover the diamond. Unfortunately the building is now the home of a new LAPD precinct. As Logan discovers to his dismay, there are only two types of people who enter beyond its high tech security - those wearing handcuffs or those carrying them.
In a desperate attempt to get inside the building and recover the diamond Logan poses as a detective. But due to a misunderstanding he is accepted as the new lead detective for the department, and becomes a reluctant cop. His maverick attitude and street smarts, shaped by years of criminal experience, make him a good cop, and he quickly impresses his superiors and his dim-witted, rookie partner (Luke Wilson).
Blue Streak becomes merely another formulaic odd couple, buddy cop pairing, which relies heavily upon Lawrence's irreverent talents to carry its uninspired scenario along. However, director Les Mayfield (Encino Man, the recent Flubber, etc) has little control over the antics of his narcissistic star, and seems to have little idea of the demands of this overworked genre. Lawrence's unfunny mugging and raucous routines are overbearing, dull, and at times a little excessive, particularly in the scene in which he does a two minute rap dance.
The film moves between slapstick comedy and fast paced action, with lots of chases and shoot-outs, little of which is entirely believable or particularly original. Blue Streak is something of an uneven mess, a result of the unsatisfactory fusion of the three distinct styles of its different writers. The basic premise itself is full of holes, and not even Lawrence's irritating presence can distract from its ludicrous nature.
The ending itself makes little sense, dramatically or logically. Many in the audience may have a problem with the film's message that crime does sometimes pay. While this device may sometimes work (especially when the criminal is played by a likeable and charismatic actor), here it merely grates because of Lawrence's overbearing and basically unlikeable persona and our lack of empathy for him.
Nonetheless, there are plenty of fans out there who will undoubtedly lap up this substandard effort!
**
greg king
http://www.netau.com.au/gregking
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